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General construction work has begun at the Akkuyu nuclear power plant site in Turkey. It is a positive sign that reactor construction will indeed commence in 2018 - putting Turkey on track to be the next new country to introduce nuclear energy into its mix after the UAE and Belarus.

World Nuclear Association Director General Agneta Rising today called on governments, expert bodies and the nuclear industry to do more to ensure that nuclear energy can make the full contribution that society requires to meet its future clean energy needs.

On 16 August half of Taiwan was affected by a blackout – some 6.6 million households and businesses – after an unplanned shutdown at a gas plant took the country’s fragile electricity system over the edge. Yet the government is standing by its policy of phasing out nuclear by 2025 and using existing reactors as little as possible.

More than 9 GWe of new nuclear capacity came online in 2016, the largest annual increase for over 25 years and global nuclear generation rose for the fourth successive year. However, if nuclear is going to make a full contribution to future clean electricity supply, action is needed in three key areas: establishing a level playing field in electricity markets; building harmonized regulatory processes; and creating an effective safety paradigm.

These are the conclusions of the World Nuclear Performance Report 2017, which is published today.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has called for nuclear energy to receive “clear and consistent policy support for existing and new capacity, including clean energy incentive schemes for development of nuclear alongside other clean forms of energy.”

Although peak generation from solar briefly exceeded generation from nuclear energy on 26 May 2017 in the UK, over the whole day nuclear generated considerably more low carbon electricity. Expanding nuclear offers greater potential for emissions savings.

Lloyds Register have today published their latest Technology Radar report, A Nuclear Perspective. The report concludes that nuclear power generation technologies are now cost competitive with fossil fuels and innovation is gathering pace.

Preparations are underway for the restart of the Sendai 1 reactor in Japan. Sendai 1 is a pressurized water reactor (PWR) sited on the southwest coast of Kyushu, the third largest island of Japan. It is owned and operated by the Kyushu Electric Power Company.

The World Nuclear Association has published reports on nuclear fuel supply and demand at roughly two yearly intervals. The report published today is the 17th in the series and extends the forecasting period to 2035. It includes scenarios covering a range of possibilities for nuclear power.

World Nuclear News

The United Arab Emirates is confident that nuclear energy is the best choice to meet growing energy demand, energy minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said yesterday. The country, which expects to see its first nuclear power plant start up next year, is preparing to host an international ministerial conference on nuclear power.

The World Nuclear Association has welcomed the start of general construction work at the site of the planned Akkuyu nuclear power plant, following confirmation by Alexey Likhachov, director-general of the Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom. Speaking to journalists last week at the 61st regular session of the International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference in Vienna, Likhachov said work on Turkey's first nuclear power plant project was underway, including the hydraulic facilities, the Daily Sabah reported.

The containment dome of unit 5 of the Tianwan nuclear power plant in China's Jiangsu province was installed today, marking the reactor's entry into the equipment installation phase of construction, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) said.

The European Commission, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the republics of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have signed a joint commitment on coordinating efforts to remediate uranium legacy sites in Central Asia, under a newly published strategic master plan.

Policy-driven market distortions are leading to a loss of diversity in the US electric supply portfolio, which will cause higher costs for consumers as well as a loss of resilience to supply disruptions, according to a new study by IHS Markit. A less diverse portfolio will also likely mean little or no reduction - and possibly increases - in electricity sector carbon dioxide emissions, the report finds.

A new nuclear fuel cycle providing acceptable and reliable back-end solutions will be essential to sustain dynamic growth in global nuclear energy, Liudmila Zalimskaya, general director of JSC Tenex, told the World Nuclear Association's Symposium in London last week. Proposed approaches centre on reprocessing and recycling of used fuel, allowing uranium and plutonium resources to be used to their fullest extent while reducing the amounts of waste for disposal.

Member states of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have celebrated the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Joint Convention on Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste Safety. The convention has contributed to a significant level of safety in the management of used fuel and radioactive waste, said IAEA deputy director general Juan Carlos Lentijo.

Rosatom director-general Alexey Likhachov has explained the Russian state nuclear corporation's "long-range agenda" at the 61st Regular Session of the IAEA General Conference being held this week in Vienna. During the event, Rosatom signed a number of agreements with its international partners.

Russia and Paraguay have signed an agreement on cooperation for peaceful use of nuclear power. The document was signed yesterday, in Vienna, during the 61st International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference, by Alexey Likhachov, director-general of Rosatom, and César Cardozo Román, minister and executive secretary of the National Radiological and Nuclear Control Agency of Paraguay.

China is moving rapidly towards using nuclear power as an industrial heat source and as a direct replacement for coal, Yulong Wu, CEO of Chinergy, told a side event at the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA's) General Conference today.

The NuScale Power Module design has "some unique features that help with alternative uses of nuclear power", Thomas Bergman, NuScale's vice president for regulatory affairs, told the World Nuclear Association's Symposium, held in London last week. The company has completed five collaborative studies on non-power applications of its small modular reactor (SMR) technology, he said.

Seventy-six European leaders from 20 countries have called on the US Administration to preserve the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran. In a statement issued by the European Leadership Network think tank, they also urge the JCPOA's European signatories to make clear their continued support for the nuclear deal.

Yukiya Amano was appointed to serve another term as director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency at its General Conference today. He took up the role in 2009 and is now to stay until late 2021.

Australia has formally acceded to the Framework Agreement of the Generation IV International Forum, an international task force set up to develop and design the next generation of nuclear energy systems. Accession allows Australia, which has no nuclear power program of its own, to become actively engaged in R&D projects related to Generation IV systems.

The perception that renewable energy is cheaper than nuclear power is only "half true", Kirill Komarov, Rosatom's first deputy director-general, said in a televised interview with Ian King, business presenter at Sky News, this week. "If you combine all the elements you need to establish connection to the grid for renewables, you need to pay additionally for some backup facilities. If you combine all these you will see that nuclear is still, minimum, twice as cheap as wind and, minimum, three times cheaper than solar," Komarov said.

Finland's Fennovoima now expects to receive the construction licence for its planned Hanhikivi 1 nuclear power plant in 2019. The company had previously expected to start construction of the plant next year, but the review of documentation related to its application is taking longer than originally envisaged.

Westinghouse Electric Company has signed a contract with Ukrainian national nuclear generator Energoatom to supply monitoring instrumentation systems to the Zaporozhe nuclear power plant, as part of a long-term safety upgrade program.

Unit 4 of the Fuqing nuclear power plant in China's Fujian province has completed commissioning tests and now meets the conditions for entering commercial operation, China National Nuclear Corporation announced today.

As the start up of the world's first AP1000 unit approaches, Westinghouse is using the Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection process to transform itself. The company will come out of the process "leaner, stronger and more competitive", Westinghouse president and CEO Jose Gutierrez told the World Nuclear Association's Symposium.

As part of preparations for its exit from the European Union, the UK is establishing a domestic nuclear safeguards regime to ensure that it "continues to maintain its position as a responsible nuclear state and that withdrawal from Euratom will not result in the weakening of its future safeguards standards and oversight in the UK", Greg Clark, the UK secretary of state for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, announced yesterday.

KazAtomProm is making progress in its transition to become a market-led, flexible supplier, the company's Chief Commercial Officer Riaz Rizvi said today at the World Nuclear Association's Symposium. The company is transforming its approaches to both production and marketing.

Some 200,000 job-years of employment are created by each 1000 MWe of nuclear capacity constructed, according to a new study by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Corporate restructuring of the French nuclear sector is "on track and major milestones have been successfully achieved", Bernard Fontana, CEO of French engineering company Areva NP, said yesterday. These milestones include re-focusing Areva NP on its core business since July 2016 and the ongoing transfer of the company's assets to a "financially sound and cash-generating" subsidiary, namely New NP.

World nuclear generating capacity is set to continue to grow according to the World Nuclear Association's newly published biennial report on the nuclear fuel market. Projections of installed capacity - and the uranium required to fuel it - have been revised downwards since the 2015 edition but still represent a higher growth rate than any seen since 1990.

World Nuclear Association Director-General Agneta Rising today called on governments, expert bodies and the nuclear industry to do more to ensure that nuclear energy can make the full contribution that society requires to meet its future clean energy needs. Rising was speaking at a press event at the World Nuclear Association Symposium, being held this week in London.

Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) announced today it has filed an appeal against the European Commission's approval for the French government to inject €4.5 billion ($5.4 billion) into Areva. TVO claims the plan does not provide sufficient guarantees that the Olkiluoto 3 EPR project will be completed.

Cambodia has signed a memorandum of understanding with China National Nuclear Corporation on cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The agreement calls for cooperation on human resources development.

The UK government must give the country's nuclear industry clarity on the potential development and deployment of small modular reactors, Rolls-Royce and its partners in the UK SMR consortium said today. There is a "once in a lifetime" opportunity for Britain to design, manufacture and operate such reactors, they added.

Iran is continuing to implement its nuclear-related commitments, but the continuation and further development of North Korea's nuclear program are a cause for "grave concern", International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano told the agency's board of governors yesterday.

Rosatom Director-General Alexey Likhachov yesterday visited the construction site of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, which the Russian state nuclear corporation said has now entered the "full-scale practical implementation phase". Rosatom also announced that it has sent the latest batch of six trailers with high-current busbars for the power supply systems of Iter's superconducting magnet.

Rosatom and Kinetics Corporation are to supply a cyclotron complex with radiochemical laboratories to the Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology. Their cooperation follows the award of a turnkey contract to Kinetics, a Thai engineering and scientific equipment supplier, via a tender held by TINT. Rusatom Healthcare, a subsidiary of the Russian state nuclear corporation, will act as the technology provider.

UPDATED: Two nuclear units at St Lucie were able to continue operating as Hurricane Irma made landfall in Florida. One unit at Turkey Point was shut down as a precaution in advance of the storm as nuclear operators and regulators put storm preparation procedures into action, while the other shut down automatically because of a valve-related issue.

Kazakh uranium producer KazAtomProm and Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear fuel and power generation. The MOU was signed in Astana on 5 September by Galymzhan Pirmatov, CEO of KazAtomProm and Mohamed Al Hammadi, CEO of Enec.

The government of Pakistan is committed to adding 8800 MWe of nuclear energy to the country's national grid by 2030, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said today at the official inauguration of the country's fifth nuclear power reactor.

China maintains "strong and sustainable" nuclear security activities, an International Atomic Energy Agency team of experts has concluded. The Vienna-based agency carried out a ten-day International Physical Protection Advisory Service mission at the Chinese government's request.

Japan and Russia have signed a memorandum on the exchange of information on reactor physics experiments for minor actinoid transmutation for radioactive waste processing and management. The document was signed on 6 September in Vladivostok, Russia, during the Eastern Economic Forum by Rosatom Director-General Alexey Likhachov and Japan Atomic Energy Agency President Toshio Kodama.